Menu

Monthly Archives: August 2016

Utah Olympic Park during the summers is best known for its Flying Ace All-Star Show on Saturdays and Sundays. The cool thing about the park is you don’t just have to be a spectator—it’s actually a training facility meant to be enjoyed by not only professional athletes but also the public.

Anyone above the age of seven anyone can attend our Freestyle Intro Session as long as you can ski and swim. For just $95 per person, you’ll get two hours with dedicated coaches to teach you the basics of freestyle skiing off ramps into the new Spence Eccles Olympic Freestyle Pool. The session fee includes a wet suit, helmet, life jacket, and skis with boots. However, you are welcome to bring your equipment.

You’ll begin the two-hour session with an introduction video then promptly receive all the equipment you’ll need for the day. After the coaches help you with the equipment, they take over to a practice ramp to help you understand the basics of how to start your decent down the ramp and approach the jump. When you’ve done a couple of practice runs and the coaches deem you ready for the pool, off you go!

I was fortunate enough to be a part of one of the first sessions this year. I admit, I was a bit nervous walking up the steps to the ramp because I didn’t really know what to expect. Questions I asked myself:

“Am I ready to go off these ramps?”“How cold is the pool?”“How fast will I get going?”“Can I hurt myself doing this?”

However, it was comforting knowing the coaches are there to make sure you’re safe, give you tips, and cheer you on.
Once you go down, the nerves goes away because you realize what you are doing is actually really safe. They have lights to signal when it’s ok to jump so you don’t land on any other riders and as you ride down the ramp bubbles are blown up from below the pool to break the surface tension—in case you are going to have a bad landing.As I kept going down the ramps into the pool I became more and more comfortable with the approach and take off. When you feel ready to try something new, tell your coaches and they’ll help you out with some pointers on what to do and what not to do. You’re only really limited to how courageous you’re willing to be. There was some guys in my group doing front flips and back flips—I was not as courageous.

Whether you’re coming up for an all-day experience around the park with the Gold Pass or just coming up for a freestyle session, Utah Olympic Park has something for everyone to enjoy. I would highly recommend adding Freestyle Intro Session to your bucket list of things to do!